WOOLLY LEMUR. 39 



subject^ which can only be cleared up by a personal 

 examination of the original Parisian specimens. 



The Woolly Lemur. 



Lemur laniger, Lemur Mongooz, Linn. Mongous, Buffhn. 

 Mongooz, Edwards. Woolly Macaco, Pennant. 



This animal seems to have been known in our mena- 

 geries since the time of Edwards, who, in his valuable 

 Gleanings of Natural History, printed in 1758, gives 

 a very good representation of a living individual '' then in 

 the house of the obliging Mrs. Kinnon, midwife to her 

 Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, who invited me," 

 says Edwards, " to take a drawing of it." Authors de- 

 scribe it as a very inoffensive and remarkably timid 

 animal, easily tamed, but not capable of much attach- 

 ment. It is, like most other lemurs, partly nocturnal, 

 sleeping during the greatest part of the day, rolled up into 

 the shape of a ball ; the tail passing between the hind 

 legs, and finally round the neck. Awkward and feeble 

 when walking upon the ground, these animals, like 

 monkeys, seem peculiarly formed for climbing and jump- 

 ing : they are said to make prodigious bounds, fre- 

 quently leaping ten feet from the ground ; and they will 

 traverse all parts of a tree with astonishing celerity. In 

 their actions, likewise, they show a considerable resem- 

 blance to the lesser monkeys : they use their hands to 

 convey food to the mouth, in the same manner ; and 

 also drink by suction. When tranquil they grunt feebly; 

 but when frightened or otherwise moved they are said to 

 roar in concert, and to produce an insupportable noise' 

 When two individuals are accustomed to each other in 

 confinement, they appear to get on very well and very 

 lovingly together, living in peace and sleeping together 

 in a mutual embrace ; but if they are strangers, a des- 

 perate fight ensues. M. Fred. Cuvier had two pairs 

 not accustomed to each other ; and whenever he removed 

 the partition which separated their cages, they were 

 seized with unaccountable fury: on those occasions they 

 D 4 



